


to fall asleep

by mumblingmaria



Category: Star Wars: Rebels
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-05-21
Updated: 2018-05-21
Packaged: 2019-05-09 16:24:41
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,729
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14719556
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/mumblingmaria/pseuds/mumblingmaria
Summary: Only midday and it's already been a long one for Hera. There's always too much work to be done for the ever growing Rebellion. Even so, she can find some time to take a moment to just be. And, not always alone.





	to fall asleep

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Xenadd](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Xenadd/gifts).



> It's Xena's birthday! I asked her about a month ago if she'd be down for me writing her something for it and she agreed and asked for a story about naps. So here we are. I had so much fun writing this, I was so smiley the whole time. I should write more fluff for these two. 
> 
> Happy birthday, Xena. I've loved getting to know you better over the past couple of months. You're so cool and wonderful and I adore talking to you. I'm happy to be able to call you a friend.

Hera tilted her head to the left, sighing as her neck stretched out. She had been sitting for hours now, working on a new training regime for Phoenix Squadron now that her general work on the _Ghost_ and for Commander Sato was finished. Only a week had past since her promotion and there was still so much to do to get her fighters and her in shape. They were all struggling to work as a cohesive team but Hera knew she’d crack the code that would make them work. Stretching the other side of a her neck, she fought a yawn off. She glanced at her chrono and grimaced. That couldn’t be the time, already well past midday. 

Gingerly, she stood up. A few joints along her legs and in her back cracked with the movement. Grimacing, she allowed herself to admit that maybe she had forgotten to take a break today. She remembered Chopper coming into the cockpit at one point to complain about her being hauled up with work (and maybe something about the boys tormenting him, she really wasn’t paying attention to that part of his complaint). But that had been a while ago. 

Looking over at the security feed of the cargo hold, Hera saw that her droid had found a way to occupy himself. With Ezra, Sabine, and Zeb as company, they were all working on something in the hold, chatting away. Ezra had his lightsaber out in front of him while was Zeb working on his bo-rifle. Sabine, almost out of view, was working on some sort of art; a cloud from her spray paints was hanging in the air around her. Chopper seemed to be focused bother the boys. Hera smiled and hoped they would stay occupied down there a little longer. An hour to herself to rest and eat was all she wanted. 

She headed out of the cockpit and past all the crew quarters. In the galley, she rummaged around until she found their ration bars, she wasn’t in the mood to try and cook something up for herself. Leaning against the counter, she chewed away at the relatively bland “meal”. There were days where the less the glamorous life of living on a starship was a bit tedious, and most of the time that was because of the food. Still, she wouldn’t trade it up just to eat better.

With the wrapper tossed away in the trash once she was done eating, Hera glanced at the caf maker. She could go for a cup. Anything to feel like she had energy to get through the rest of the day. The caf maker was prepped and began its overly slow but generally perfected process when she realized she hadn’t seen Kanan in the hold. He must be in his cabin, taking the chance for a solitary moment like she was. A quick and easy decision made, she head out of the galley.

Hera knocked on his cabin door and called out, “Kanan? I’m making some caf, there’s enough for both of us.” 

No response. 

“Kanan?” She knocked again and there was still no sound on the other side of the hatchway. Maybe he wasn’t in there. 

She pressed the controls for the door and smiled when it opened. He was in there, sitting up in his bunk. His armour was off, resting on the bunk below his bed. One knee was up and his hand was holding a datapad against the raised thigh. His outstretched foot was resting on his pillow while his head was leaning the cushioned interior of the bunk. His face was shadowed. Shaking her head, she walked into the room, the door _swoosh_ ing closed behind her. He didn’t acknowledge her entering, seeming to be completely captivated by whatever it was he was reading.

“There’s caf being made,” she said as she neared the bunks. No answer still, nothing about him seemed aware of her presence, which was odd more than rude. When she stopped next to him, she realized why: he wasn’t engrossed in the datapad, he was asleep. 

Hera bit her lip. She should leave; she knew Kanan needed the sleep. He was up at odd hours just like she was, neither of them ever getting the full nights they had before their family had gotten bigger. He wasn’t going to need the caf and she didn’t want to wake him up (though she wondered if she even could at this point if she hadn’t managed it already). 

But she didn’t move. It was so rare to see Kanan like this, completely at ease. Even when they had been regularly sharing a bunk, he’d have woken up first most of the time, often leaving the bunk so she could get an hour or two more sleep in. She couldn’t remember the last time she got the chance to just look at him. 

She reached up, taking the datapad out of his hand—he didn’t stir at all—and placed it on the lower bunk. Stepping onto the ladder at the side, Hera climbed up. Twisting when she got to the top, she ducked her head to avoid hitting it as she sat with her hip pressed against his side. He shifted slightly but didn’t wake up. She placed her right hand on the other side of him to keep her balance, leaning over him. Her legs were hanging off the side.

 _He looks younger asleep_ , she thought, studying his face. She could see the young man she had met all those years ago on Gorse with the appearance of carefree. Except, here asleep, he did actually appear to look carefree. Gently, Hera traced a finger along the side of his face. He let out a deep breath and his head dropped towards his chest. She smiled.

Leaning against his raised leg, Hera watched Kanan sleep.

When she opened her eyes again, she realized she had moved. Or, more likely, she had been moved. Her head was resting against Kanan’s shoulder, his arm was wrapped around her with his hand on her waist. One of her legs had made it over him, though left one was tangled up in his. He was now running his fingers against her arm that was draped across his stomach.

Hera looked up and found him smiling down at her.

“Hey there,” he whispered, the hand on her waist moving to her hip and squeezing gently (he knew better than to squeeze her side lest he wanted a strong and involuntary kick). 

Hera hummed, blinking a few times to get the sleep out of her eyes. “I came in here to tell you I was making us caf,” she said. She sat up, pushing herself upright with the hand on his stomach. The muscles under his shirt tensed to give her something to push against. His hands stayed on her, the one that had been on her arm moved to her hand, twining their fingers together.

“Oh, did you?” he chuckled. She felt her cheeks warm. 

“It’s probably cold,” she said. She shrugged a shoulder and a small laugh started to leave her.

“You’ve been here awhile.”

“Why didn’t you wake me up?” Hera asked. She shifted, moving her legs—they were starting to cramp from the twisted position—so that they were now lying across him. 

“Do you know how rare it is that I get to just watch you sleep?” Kanan said. He scooted back, sitting upright a bit more. Even though he was awake now, he was still carrying the complete sense of ease he held when he had been asleep. He was staying in the moment, not worrying about the inevitability of their untangling and reemergence from his cabin. “Why didn’t you wake me up when you came in?” His question was pointed, he already knew the answer.

“I did try, when I first came in,” she retorted, not giving him the response he wanted to hear. 

“When you first came in,” he repeated. Then the smile on his face widened. “Why, Hera, were you watching me sleep?”

“You’re ruining this,” she said. 

She moved her hands behind her to lift herself up. Inching forward, she started to make her way to leave the bunk. But when she was directly above Kanan, he wrapped his arms around her, forcing her to sit down in his lap. Arching a brow, she turned to look at him and to tell him they really did need to leave but he placed a hand on the back of her head and pulled her to him.

Hera smiled into their kiss—a short kiss—and was still smiling when they pulled apart. 

“Am I still ruining it?” he asked.

“I guess not,” she said. She kissed him again, a light peck and then moved out of his hold. She slid down to the cabin’s floor, Kanan guiding her so she didn’t fall, and looked up at him. “But I’m going to now—we can’t stay in here all day.”

Kanan let out a dramatic sigh and rolled out of the bunk. He landed on his feet in front of her and bent down. “Just a couple more seconds,” he murmured. She met his lips again, wrapping an arm around his neck as his hands went to her waist. When they drew back, he said, “I’ll still drink that caf you made, by the way. I don’t care that it’s cold.”

Hera made a face. “That’s disgusting,” she said. She’d only willingly drink cold caf if the cup she had been nursing ended up that way. To start with a cold cup? Ridiculous.

“I know my ways confuse and delight you,” Kanan said. He walked over to the door and pressed the controls to open them. He made a over the top ‘after you’ gesture, smiling sweetly back at her. Hera rolled her eyes as she walked past him. 

Looking over her shoulder at him once in the corridor, Hera said, “Well, your confusing and delightful ways mean you can drink all the caf I made.”

“Aye, aye, Captain.” He made a joking salute at her as she began to lead them to the galley. 

She really wasn’t going to have any caf, and not just because she had let it get cold. Her nap had given her just what she needed.


End file.
